My goldfish swims upside down constantly. We thought it was dying, but it seems to have been quite happy. Is there anything wrong with it?

Here is a drastic treatment that worked for me, or rather a fish that apparently had a "swimbladder disease". BTW, Borameer, at the time this happened I had never heard of "swimbladder disease", but someone told me that what had happened was that the swimbladder was full of air told me this cure,being young and trusting I beleaved them and it worked, trapped air or not. Net the fish and grasp it with wet fingers thru the net at the base of the tail, with your other hand hold the net up out of the way over you hand , let the fish hang head down, dunk him into the water head first then raise him up hold him out of the water about 3 seconds then dunk again repeat that 4 or 5 times. Then let him swim out of the net. I did this once a day for three days, the morning of the first his world was right side up again. He may have rcovered on his own without the treatments but they didn't seem to hurt him any.

A "hospital tank" is a good idea. It can be just a clean large bowl, a big jar, a very new plastic bucket etc. with a cover of some sort if it is shallow. For "swim bladder" problems a general treatment is for the temp to be higher than normal at least 75 F for at least three days. Maybe as high as 80 for a day or two Raise that temp gradually, one two degrees an hour. And NO food. There is some thought that "swimbladder" problems may really be due to problems in digestion, "gas'" if you will allow. Goldfish can go unfed a week easy,even longer. You may be overfeeding that little guy.

I've never heard of feeding fish skinned peas. That must take a teeny knife. But goldfish do need their veggies. I've always used chopped frozen spinach, just a pinch thawed then drop it in. Chop it some more for smaller fish. Raw or cooked depending on how your fish like it. When ever you use any of these "homemade" foods remove any uneaten bits after 5 to 10 minutes cause it will spoil quick.
If goldie never turns over but seems happy anyway, maybe you just got a fish that looks at life a bit differantly than every one else.

your fish has a disease called dropsy

Could be a nutty fish, but sounds more like "Swim Bladder Disease" - for more information:

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Swim-bladder%20Disease

http://www.koivet.com/swimbladder.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-Swimbladder-Disease-in-Goldfish

If there was anything wrong with it, it would be floating at the top of the tank by now like a small piece of carrot.

this could also be another disease called swim bladder

This site helped save my little Goldfish life. He was constantly upside down and when he was upright he couldn't swim straight. The flakes of fish were making him/ her bloated.
I read on this site to feed him/her goldfish pellets, from the first day and now it is the 4th day Bobbye has made a total turn around.Thank you and I hope this message helps someone else. Peace

One of our four gold fish started floating on his belly we switched to pellets from flakes and it seened to work for a wile.he is now floating upside down again. He is thicker than the other 3 and I think that he may be constipated. He is about 4 years old. Any ideas

Don't kill the fish it is fine just stop feeding him flakes and give him goldfish pellets and in less than a day he will be tip top. I almost thought I had to put mine out of his misery until I read what to try on this site. Best advise, my daughter is happy and so is my wife and me too.
Smitty

Maybe he's just clowning around for you.

Your goldfish is suffering from too much water pressure. Goldfish are often kept in aquariums that have more depth and less surface area, but goldfish are more at home is shallow ponds with plenty of surface area.

Lower the water table and your goldfish will be able to right itself. Unfortunately, these swimming issues are frequentl linked to constipation or swim bladder disease; which the experts admit they know nothing about.

Here's an a link to an article that explains it quite well; it's much like a skin diver getting the bends.
http://goldfish-emergency.com/viewpage.php?page_id=63

i have a zebra danio that has just started to float upside down.he swims normally but keeps going to the corner of the tank and turns upside down.any answers to this?

I have had two goldfish for about 6 months. I have noticed that each time they eat they float upside down after eating. I tried all different types of foods. Nothing worked. I tried the aquarium salt soak..it only worked until they ate next. Last night I was at pet smart and I was looking at alternative types of foods again. I am so happy that I purchased a new one and neither fish has floated upside down in over 24 hours. It is strange because they seem a lot more active as well. The food is called Bio-Blend Goldfish Fish Food. It is made by Marineland labs. They are little pellets that quickly sink. Goldfish are suppose to eat from the bottom of the tank. It is also blended for digestibility. Hopefully this will help someone. I knnow that I am so thrilled that my poor fish do not float upside down anymore. I purchased this food at petsmart. I am sure you can find it online though.

Michele

Usually when a fish swims upside down it is due to swimbladder disease and the fish loses control of its equilibrium.

Place in a "hospital tank" and feed the fish peas (without the skins) to possibly correct the problem.

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Sadly I believe this is a big promblem that cannot be fixed. My goldfish Pexy came down with this and its called "Floation" This cannot be helped and your fish will live long but not happily. Soz It didnt work out

no it doesnt mean it is dying. i have a goldfish and he been swimming upside down for two years now and still living.

As others have said, the problem is "swim bladder". The fish may be constipated and the pressure on the swim bladder is enough to make it unable to stay upright.

The answer is very simple - get some frozen peas, take the skin off, crush them and feed them to the fish. You may need to keep it in shallow water (taken from the tank) for a time, to make it easier to stay upright.

You can get more info here plus tips to stop the problem from recurring: http://www.squidoo.com/goldfish-swims-upside-down

One of my goldfishes, a real fat one, used to roll belly-up and would stay there until it saw some food. I tried the peas (with skins even, I think it managed to swallow it) and it seemed to work a while. Afterwards, the problem came back and I started feeding it frozen tubifex worms, but it died pretty soon after. Now all of my goldfishes, except the black telescope eye one have problems swimming, and sort of keep floating despite swimming desperately to the bottom. I don't feed them pellets anymore. It is possible that impaction is still the problem, or is it a virus?

how long does the fish need to be in the hospital tank for? is it 3 days? i'm worried if it'll be able to breathe in there cos its just a bucket

I had a goldfish who began to swim upside down. He tried to right himself and could manage it breifly early on. It got progressively worse. He began wedging himself between things in an upright position. I can't remember how long he lived like this. It seems like it was about a year. Then he became unable to swim in any normal fashion, just kind of thashing and getting nowhere. He began to act sick and I couldn't bear seeing him suffer so my son killed him for me.
Judging from the way he acted, I assumed it was his swim bladder.